A Piece Of Sky
by sensitive touchdown
Summary: [AU] Of all the skies he had seen, this must be the prettiest. [ Sai x Naruto ]


A Piece Of Sky

Yaoi. AU. I don't own Naruto. Typos.

-

_The sky._

Sai smiled to himself. Yes, the sky must be best way to describe what he saw in front of him. Even though he was full aware that he was only glancing in the eyes of Naruto, he could not tell himself to look away or to say something.

Somehow so very close, but yet miles away. Just like the sky, Naruto was always there for him and for everyone else as well.

"Whatcha up to?" Naruto's voice broke the soft silence. The streets of Konoha were quieter than usual and only gentle whistle of wind caressed their ears. Or maybe Sai could only concentrate on one thing at the time…

"Oh, this?" Sai asked, as he realized that Naruto was watching a sketchpad he was holding. He shook his head and let the blond boy flip through the unfinished sketches, "Those are only sketches though."

Naruto frowned, as if he had been disappointed and threw the sketchbook back at Sai, "Who's that in your sketches?"

_It is… you?_ Sai froze at his own thoughts. But before Naruto could get suspicious, he managed to pull himself together, "Oh, no one in particular."

"Really?" Naruto said curiously, before spinning around on his heels, "Well, whatever. It's not like I really care about your crappy paintings. I'll be heading to the bathhouse. See ya later."

Sai's face turned even paler than usual. A flood of unexpected thoughts and images flashed through his mind. Having Naruto and the bathhouse in the same sentence made something click in the back of his mind and suddenly he could not stop the want of seeing Naruto's naked skin.

He could not tell when all of this had started. And he could not even tell why he felt the way he did. No matter how hard he searched from the books and the documents, he could never find an answer to what these feelings were. He was sure that this was neither happiness nor lust, but yet he could not stop desiring Naruto's body or feeling happy when the blond was around.

As he had been thinking about his feelings, his feet had started to carry him forward. And before he knew it, he was jogging after Naruto.

-

Sai opened the door to the locker room. He glanced the room for a moment, before noticing that it was empty. As he stepped in, he noticed Naruto's clothes on one of the benches and when he listened closely, he could hear sound of running water.

_What is wrong with me…?_ Sai questioned himself mentally, before quietly walking towards the shower area. He knew that he should not be here and if Naruto ever found out, Sai would be labelled as a closet pervert for eternity. Oh but wait… Naruto probably already thought of him as a closet pervert.

Sai placed his sketchpad next to Naruto's clothes. With silent footsteps he glided across the room and pressed his back against a wall, right next to the doorway to the showers. He leaned forward and peeked through the doorway.

His heart skipped a beat and he had to hold his breath. He had seen Naruto naked before, but for some reason this time the blond looked far more appealing.

The beautifully tanned skin seemed to glitter, as the dimmed light touched his wet form. The water poured down and gently followed his not too masculine curves. His skin seemed perfect and untouched, something that Sai was eager to lay his hands on. Although Naruto was facing his back at Sai, the sight he was offering the black-haired boy was enough to drive him crazy.

Sai tore his eyes away from Naruto and straightened his back. This could not be right. He knew that it was common sense that two men in love was wrong. But was he in love with Naruto?

Naruto turned off the shower and Sai winced visibly. He quickly dashed to the door and opened it as quietly as he could. He looked over his shoulder and saw Naruto stepping into the locker room just when he closed the door.

Sai gasped for air. Now that was _too_ close. Sai pressed his back against a cold wall and let his eyelids slip shut. He guessed he was safe, since Naruto was probably heading to the hot springs next. But instead of following him there, Sai guessed that he should pull back for the day.

Suddenly the door next to Sai opened and revealed a slightly flustered and a little bit angry Naruto.

"Y-you…!" Naruto pointed his finger at Sai, "Y-you… pervert!!"

Sai only shrugged his shoulders and came up with a lame excuse, "I was just hanging around…"

Naruto's eyes were clouded, just like a sky before a storm. And Sai understood why, when Naruto threw him his sketchpad. He cursed mentally— he must have forgotten it next to Naruto's clothes.

"…This is not what it looks like?" Sai tried, but Naruto only slammed the door shut and yelled something incoherent behind the closed door.

_Well, that didn't go too well._

-

Sai sat on the floor in his small apartment. He looked at the paintings, which surrounded him. They all looked so… lifeless. It was as if they reflected the emptiness inside of him. The hollowness he felt was as if he was trying to breathe, but he never got his lungs full of air. He sighed and stood up, starting to get fed up.

It had been a day since he had seen Naruto last. Maybe the blond was angry with him, although it was not completely out of character of him to be peeping. After all, he had kept throwing comments of Naruto's manhood ever since the day they met. But they had taken several baths together, which made Sai wonder why Naruto was so freaked out.

Sai glanced out of a window. Once clear sky was now shrouded with heavy dark clouds. His thoughts wandered right back to where they had been, when rain started pouring from the heavens. Maybe what attracted him the most in Naruto was the way he always found the way to live his life to the fullest. A life which Sai could only dream of.

Sai stood up soundlessly and walked to a table and looked at unfinished sketches sprawled across it. He frowned deeply, before wiping the papers off the table and let them spread out on the floor. He pulled out an empty sheet of paper and a pencil.

What makes a painting seem alive?

Sai pressed the tip of the pen to his lips as he thought. He was arguably the best drawer and painter in Konoha, yet he still had not managed to create a masterpiece, which inherited a soul. Hell, neither one of his paintings even had a name.

Sai closed his eyes and listened to the heavy sound of the rain. The sound reminded him of the event, which took place in the bathhouse. The image of Naruto standing in the shower was still fresh in his mind.

He could not tell why, but he had been very agitated by the scene. Naruto was definitely not the most masculine man in the universe, but he could not be called overly feminine either. He was a perfect mixture of both, but his body's curves were rarely shown, since he often wore his baggy orange jumpsuit. But maybe Naruto was intentionally trying to hide his lack of masculinity.

With a smile Sai started to draw a sketch. After a while he stopped and erased the whole thing. He repeated this more than five times, before giving up and placing the pen back on the table's surface.

He could not draw nor paint. Not now that the only thing lingering in his mind was Naruto. The boy was tormenting and eating him from inside. It was like a smothered want, wishing to be realized and set free. But Sai did not allow that to get the best of him.

Instead he came to a conclusion.

If he could not get rid of the irritant, he could always paint a picture of him.

-

It was a couple of day later Sai saw Naruto again. He was walking out of the Ichiraku's ramen stand, seeming content and happy.

"Naruto."

The expression of happiness faded when he saw Sai. The blond boy snorted and lifted his chin, "I'm still mad at you, perv."

Sai rolled his eyes, "I figured as much."

They stared at each other in silence for a moment. The people in Konoha gave them half-hearted looks, as they walked past them. It was still early in the morning and Sai guessed that Naruto was about to head to the training grounds.

"Naruto…" Sai sighed, knowing that he needed to ask his question. Naruto arched his eyebrow and waited for Sai to continue. But the dark-haired boy did not seem to find the correct words to ask for Naruto to be his model, so he tilted his head back and looked up at the tranquil sky, "The weather's nice today."

Naruto did not seem to buy it, but he glanced up at the sky, before lowering his eyes at Sai, "Yeah, what about it?"

Sai fixed his attention from the sky back to Naruto.

And as he looked into his eyes, he found himself paralyzed once again. They were just like the sky— both close and very far away. They hid so many things behind that serene surface.

"Naruto, I'd like to paint a picture of you."

Naruto gave him a weird look, before he burst out into laughter. Sai frowned, as he found the situation dead serious. He felt his palms sweating and his heart beating slightly faster. What if Naruto thought that he was a total weirdo now?

"Why don't you ask Sakura or someone like that?" Naruto asked after a while and scratched the back of his head, "I think she'd be a better model anyway. I can't stand sitting still for more than a minute."

Sai chuckled mentally. That was not hard to imagine. But Sai did not give up, "That's alright. I want to paint a picture of you."

The blond boy turned from amused to serious. As he realized that Sai was not kidding with him, he slumped his shoulders in defeat, "Well, it's not like I have anything better to do. But if you're up to something perverted again, I swear I'll castrate you."

Sai's lips curved upwards into a smile.

-

Naruto had seated himself comfortably on Sai's bed, trying to look as good as possible. And he even managed to stay still for three and half minutes sharp. After that he said that his body was starting to get numb and he needed to move a little.

But Sai did not care about that. What he cared about was when he finished the portrait of Naruto, it seemed just as lifeless as all the pictures around his apartment. He cursed mentally, as he removed the painting from the stand and threw it away.

"Why'd you do that?!" Naruto asked loudly and pointed at the painting lying on the floor, "First you make me sit here for an eternity and then you throw the painting away!!"

Sai shook his head and rubbed his temples, "I'm sorry. I just thought that maybe you could help me overcome my problem."

"What problem?" Naruto asked.

"This." Sai motioned the paintings in the room with a heavy sigh. Naruto looked around and blinked his eyes in confusion. Sai realized that the other one was not following and continued, "These paintings are so empty. They don't tell a story like they should. It's just like…" Sai paused in mid-sentence, "…oh, never mind."

Naruto slumped his shoulders, "Well then, how do you expect me to help you? It's not your models fault that you can't paint."

"…You're right." Sai admitted, "But maybe if I was agitated enough…"

Sai glanced intimately at Naruto, as if trying to undress him with his eyes. Naruto noticed this and wrinkled his nose, "Agitated? You want me to take my clothes off or something like that?"

Sai stayed silent for a moment before shrugging his shoulders, "If it's alright with you."

Naruto visibly froze. He opened and closed his mouth, probably trying to decide whether Sai was serious or not. He then blinked his sky blue eyes a couple of times, before saying, "…You're kiddin', right?"

"If it makes you feel better, then yes." Sai sighed in defeat. He should have known better than say something like that aloud.

Sai and Naruto stared at each other for a long time. Both of them were trying to resolve what the other one was thinking. Naruto, who looked into Sai's cold eyes could not tell why his heart started racing. Sai was as mesmerized as ever.

Naruto stood up from the bed and for a moment Sai thought that he was about to run away.

But when Naruto pulled his long t-shirt over his head, Sai almost fell off his chair. The blond looked away in embarrassment, as he saw Sai's reaction, "If you're going to laugh, I'll rip your head off."

"Don't worry." Sai smiled widely, "I would never even dream of that."

Naruto bit his bottom lip and moved his hands down to remove his pants. After unzipping his pants fell down to his ankles and the only thing he was wearing now was his white boxers. A hint of redness appeared on his cheeks, but he kicked his pants away anyway. He was fully aware that Sai was closely following his each movement.

Naruto let out a small noise of protest, "Look away, pervert."

Sai did as told and focused his eyes at the floor.

Naruto removed the last piece of clothing, before sitting on the bed again and lying down. But before he gave Sai a permission to look, he pulled the bed sheets over his lower region, "O-okay, now you can look."

Sai could not tell whether he was relieved or disappointed when he noticed that Naruto had hid everything under his navel under his bed sheets. He sighed and shook his head, "You took your boxers off in vain."

" S-so what?!" Naruto was clearly flustered, "Just paint that picture, alright?"

Sai nodded his head and started painting again. Naruto stayed still for amazingly long time and he was quiet too. Sai carefully followed Naruto's each curve with his eyes and adored the pout on the

But after a while, Naruto asked, "Why did you follow me to the bathhouse yesterday?"

Sai stopped painting for a moment. He looked from his painting to Naruto and wondered what kind of reply the other one wanted to hear. He focused back on his painting and said, "I don't know."

"Oh, so you're just a creepy pervert who likes to see other men naked?" Naruto said, half joking and half serious.

"I guess you could put it that way then." Sai let out a small chuckle, while letting his hand work on the painting, "But the truth is unknown even to me. But I guess I'm sorry if I offended you and your privacy."

Naruto shifted a little, "It's kind of okay. We're both boys anyway, so it doesn't really matter."

"That's good." Sai replied calmly.

Naruto watched Sai paint for a moment, before the dark-haired boy put away his pencil and sighed in content.

"You done already?" Naruto asked, as he lifted himself from the bed. He carefully kept the blanket around his waist, as he stood up and walked next to Sai. His eyes widened in awe and he turned to look at the other boy, "Wow! It really seems somehow different!"

Sai regarded the picture he had just drawn. He had to admit that it amazed him as well. It was something completely different from the other paintings. No, it could not even be compared to the other works he had painted. He smiled a little and turned to look at Naruto, "Maybe the model does matter after all."

"Uhn, is that a compliment?" Naruto scratched the back of his neck.

"Yeah."

-

After that day, Sai realized he had found his muse. The paintings were given the breath of life by Naruto.

It had become his daily routine to wake up when the sun peaked over the buildings in Konoha. He would grab his painting supplies and immediately head to Naruto's apartment, which was not too far away from his. He would sit down on a tree only a few feet away from a window, through which he could see Naruto resting on his bed.

And he sat there that morning too. He had learned that Naruto had a tendency of rolling around a lot when he slept and he never woke up before midday. And when he did wake up, his hair was messy and his eyes would not open before he had taken a quick shower.

Sai packed his pencils and grabbed his sketchbook, as he noticed that Naruto left his apartment. He jumped down from the tree and leaned his back on a nearby wall and waited for the blond to come out.

"Morning!" Naruto yelled and waved his hand and ran to Sai, "You're here again? Wanna come to the training grounds with me then?"

Sai smiled his friendly smile and nodded his head, "Of course."

They had kept doing this for a while now. Every morning, after watching Naruto sleep, Sai would follow the blond to the training grounds. Mostly he would watch as Naruto threw kunais at tree trunks or run around a small field. Sometimes he even joined the blond, but other than that, he usually painted.

"You wanna spar with me?" Naruto asked, as they arrived to the training grounds.

"Not today." Sai said, as he sat down on the grass and opened his sketchbook, "But I will treat you ramen after you've through with training."

Naruto threw his fist up in the air and thanked Sai, before running to the middle of the field and doing sit-ups.

Sai smiled as he watched Naruto. Their friendship had deepened considerably, but besides that everything was normal. Sai was not sure whether he wanted to involve Naruto in a deeper relationship or not. And he was not sure if Naruto wanted to have him as more than as a friend. But it did not matter to Sai, as long as he got to be around the blond.

After a couple of hours, Naruto walked back to Sai with a broad smile, "So you're gonna treat me ramen now, huh?"

Sai lifted his eyebrow, "But you were only training for few hours."

"So!" Naruto threw his arms in the air and made restless movements, "I was training harder yesterday! And I want you to treat me ramen…!"

The dark-haired teen let out a long breath, as he stood up and collected his stuff from the grass, "Alright, alright."

Sai was surprised when Naruto grabbed his hand and started pulling him away from the training grounds. The other one probably did not realize what he was doing, but when he was about to let go, Sai quickly slipped his fingers in between Naruto's. At first Naruto seemed hesitant about holding hands, but eventually he relaxed.

Only when they approached the gates of Konoha, Naruto tugged his hand back, "…I-I'm sorry Sai, but the people in Konoha…"

Sai immediately understood and let go of Naruto's hand. He tried not to look offended and he guessed he did hide it well, since Naruto made no comments of it. Or maybe the blond only felt guilty.

"I understand." Sai said and poked Naruto's shoulder, "If you want to be a Hokage one day, it might ruin your reputation if someone found out you holding hands with a man."

"Th-that's…" Naruto stuttered and stopped walking. He looked at Sai, looking almost scared, "…That's not it! I mean… uh, it's alright… to like whoever you like… you know… but I just…"

Sai let a smile come to his lips as he placed his palm against Naruto's face. Once Naruto's blue eyes were focused at him, he smiled as kindly as he could and said, "It's alright. I understand. There is nothing between us, after all. We shouldn't give anyone the wrong idea."

But that only seemed to worsen Naruto's mood. The said one looked at Sai long and his clear eyes full of disbelief. He seemed to be ready to cuss at Sai as he opened his mouth, but he quickly pulled his jaw up and frowned sadly. It was as if watching a dark cloud slowly move across a clear sky, as Sai looked into Naruto's eyes.

"Yeah. You're right…!" Naruto stated loudly and nodded his head. He spun around on his heels, "Treat me ramen some other day, okay? I remembered I have something really important to do."

Sai reached his hand out to grab Naruto, but the blond was already dashing towards Konoha.

And he stood there, wondering what he had done wrong. Why had the eyes, which had resembled the clearest sky, suddenly turned into sad and stormy? Had he been too straightforward?

Sai stood still for ten more minutes, before he was able to move his feet. Maybe he should find Naruto and ask what he had done wrong. Or maybe he should leave him be and try to fix what he had done later.

-

The sun had already set behind the horizon and the stars twinkled in the sky. Sai glanced out of his window absently. Naruto seemed to trouble him, no matter what time it was or where he went. Even know, the only thing he could think of was him.

Suddenly a loud knock on the door tore him away from his thoughts. Or it was not even a knock, it was a _bang_, which almost broke the whole door. It did not take a genius to figure out who was standing behind that door.

Sai walked to the door and opened it reluctantly. He looked at a pink-haired girl, who had her eyes narrowed and fists balled.

"And exactly what you've done to Naruto this time?" Sakura asked harshly, while leaning against the doorframe.

"Excuse me?" Sai asked with a smile, "I don't think I know what you are talking about."

Sakura gritted her teeth and slammed her hand against the door, when Sai was about to close it, "Oh, I think you know what I'm talking about. Naruto doesn't piss off like that when you throw a comment about the size of his penis. So what did you do?"

Sai frowned and folded his hands over his chest, "Actually, I'm not sure myself."

"Well, you must have done something!" Sakura declared, "He _refused_ to come eat ramen with me. And that has only happened once before. And that was when Sasuke left."

"He didn't want me to treat him ramen either." Sai shrugged his shoulders. The way Sakura put it, things seemed to be worse than he had thought. He let Sakura step inside of his small apartment.

Sakura stepped into the apartment and took off her shoes. She looked around and frowned at the countless of paintings, which all were of Naruto. She turned around and looked at Sai, "…Alright, what is this all about?"

"What do you mean?" Sai asked, as he walked into the kitchen, "Do you want something? Tea? Water?"

Sakura picked up a painting from a floor and examined it. There was Naruto, lying under a blanket and most likely completely naked. A small blush spread on her features and she quickly put the painting back down, "All these pictures… they're… of Naruto?"

Sai stopped pouring water to a small kettle and his shoulders slumped visibly.

"Sai… don't tell me that you're…" Sakura asked in disbelief, "…But I thought that you disliked Naruto?"

Sai almost laughed sarcastically, "It's funny. I think I never _did_ think too highly of him."

Sakura moved towards the kitchen area and sat down by a small table. She let a small sigh cross her lips, "But now you're in love with him?"

"Love?" Sai said out loud. It felt so weird when someone else was talking about it, "I don't know. Before, all my paintings looked all so lifeless. But now that I have started to focus on Naruto… they all seem so much more alive. And now that I have seen the life in my paintings, I've grown addicted to it."

"I don't think that your paintings have ever looked lifeless." Sakura said honestly. She kept a long pause, before continuing, "Maybe it isn't the paintings' fault. Maybe it is Naruto."

Sai turned around, still holding the kettle in his hands, "What do you mean?"

Sakura smiled knowingly and leaned her elbows on the table, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

-

The next day Naruto refused to speak with Sai. Even though Sai kept going to his house every morning, the blond did not even bid him good morning or ask him to come with him to the training grounds. Sai could not understand what he had done so wrong to make Naruto so mad. He had not insulted him or said anything _that_ bad, now had he?

He ended up following Naruto to the training grounds anyway. He watched as Naruto ran around the field, until he was exhausted enough to collapse on the grass. At first Sai thought that he had hurt himself, but when he heard laughter, he realized that he was alright.

"Why do you keep following me around, Sai?" Naruto asked.

Sai, who stood in the shadows of a large tree, replied, "Because I'm curious. I'd like to know why you are ignoring me."

"I haven't ignored you!" Naruto sat up and glared at Sai, "Oh, but why'd you care anyway. There's _nothing between us_ after all. We might give someone the wrong idea."

Sai rolled his eyes. Was Naruto mad because he had said that?

Naruto stood up and dusted off his orange pants. As he walked past Sai, he kept his eyes locked at him. Even if he was mad, his eyes were still amazingly beautiful. They made Sai feel guilty, although the logical part of his mind kept telling him that Naruto was only being delusional.

"I thought that there might have been something… _something_ more to us." Naruto stated, his voice both sad and longing, "But I guess I was wrong. I'd advice you not to give everyone the wrong idea. Maybe it would help if you stopped smiling that fake smile. Someone might actually think that you like them."

Sai's mouth was left open, as he watched Naruto walk away.

-

When Sai got home, he sat down by a table and pulled out a sheet of paper. He started painting immediately, his hand moving fast, yet accurately. A hint of a smile played on his lips, as the picture became clearer and clearer.

It took him four hours to finish his work. As he looked out of the window, he noticed the evening sun slowly descending behind the cloudy horizon. Sai stretched his sore arms, before standing up and checking the painting. It had turned out just like he had hoped it would.

He quickly wrote a small note and attached it to the painting, before wrapping the whole thing in a thin blanket.

Before long, he was running down the streets of Konoha. It took him less time than usual to get to Naruto's apartment. He walked up a staircase of a small block of flats, where the blond lived. As he stood in front of Naruto's apartment's door, he inhaled a deep breath.

He placed the painting on the doorstep and knocked on the door. Then he quickly turned around and ran away.

Naruto opened the door only seconds later and frowned, as he saw no one behind it. He looked around to check if the neighbor's kids were playing pranks on him again, but he did not see anything. He took a step forward and his feet touched something on the floor. He looked down and blinked his eyes.

He picked up a middle-sized painting from the doorstep. It was wrapped in a thin blanket, but as he unwrapped it, he could not help but smile. He stared at the picture of him and Sai, holding hands and staring at each other. There were people standing on the background and they were staring at them. But yet, both of them were smiling.

A small note was attached to the corner of the painting. Naruto frowned as he read the short text.

_Let's give everyone the wrong idea,  
They would not understand us after all.  
Because now I have come to realize;  
Of all the skies I have ever seen,  
I found the prettiest one,  
In your eyes._

Red color spread on Naruto's face and he quickly stepped back into his apartment. He closed his eyes and breathed heavily in and out.

He pressed his back against the closed door and let himself slip down on the floor. He looked at the painting again and smiled, "_Let's give everyone the wrong idea_, you say?"

-

As the break of dawn finally arrived, Sai stood in front of Naruto's apartment. It was not even the midday, but Naruto had already taken a shower and dressed up.

Sai waited patiently for the blond to show up, and when he did, his heart skipped a beat.

The smile he got from Naruto was something he had never seen before. It was so pure and so sincere. But it was nothing compared to his eyes. Even the cloudless sky above them could not rival them.

As soon as Naruto reached him, the blond threw his arms around the taller boy. Sai was momentarily out of breath, but quickly regained his sense of reality. He let his arms find their place around Naruto's waist, as he rested his face on top of the golden hair.

"Good morning!" Naruto said happily into Sai's shirt, "And thanks for the painting. Though the note you wrote me was the cheesiest."

Sai let out a small laugh as he pulled away from Naruto, "You didn't like my idea?"

"No." Naruto shook his head, as he rose up on his toes and whispered in Sai's ear, "Actually, I loved it."

And if the people of Konoha had not been staring before that moment, they were when Sai leaned down to kiss the pink lips of Naruto. And the blond replied more than willingly to the kiss. Soon they had completely forgotten that they were standing by the Konoha's busiest road.

The horrified mothers ushered their children away, as Sai pushed Naruto against a nearby wall. A few older men could not help but openly stare at the two men, before cursing at the youth nowadays.

"Have you no shame! There are children about!" An old woman yelled, but walked away as he noticed that neither one of the boys were listening.

Ever since that, they did not care.

As Sai finally pulled away from Naruto, they both were out of breath. The blond looked over Sai's shoulder and saw mortified looks everywhere, but they only made him feel giddy.

Sai took a step backwards and offered his hand to Naruto.

"So, let's go?"

_And for a moment, even the sky seemed to be so near._


End file.
